In life it's unavoidable, either due to one's self or others, for one to avoid all negative times. There will be difficult, negative, highly trying, or even hopeless times. These could have to do with one's internal or external world.
It's not uncommon that many times our life can be just fine and there can be inner turmoil, or that during times where things are very bad, we have a calm confidence about affairs. Life overall is not exactly a game and there is a share of difficulties that have to be overcome so that we both learn and evolve. It will happen.
A major mistake I have seen people do is that when the difficult times are in, people might start "questioning" or "weakening" their own "faith". This weakening arises because one is weakening overall, and instead of actually striking back at this with fortifying one's faith, one allows situations to make too much negative impact on someone.
The situation is that this is where your faith should be increasing, even if this looks antithetical, because during difficult times it's when you are actually fighting to grow. To understand how to grow the faith, we have to actually understand what "Faith" means as a generic word and what True Faith means in the context of Zevism.
Unlike the enemy's nonsense of "faith", our faith relies heavily on practically engaging the Gods, doing actual liturgical work, meditating, and self improving; in other words, becoming your own God while simultaneously you are connecting to the Gods yourself.
That's the point of "faith", not just sitting there like a servile spiritually uneducated fool and doing nothing but wait for a slave master to stop the torture that is solely the consequence of the very same stupidity one is practicing.
Faith is the opposite of the above in Zevism and is built through action, interaction, knowledge, understanding, conscious effort. Then, it blooms.
You will not have faith if you don't indulge yourself in anything related to this path, and even if you do have faith while you aren't practicing, that type of faith will not be as strong in it's form and likely will easily be broken apart when you encounter certain events that force you around a little bit.
The fortified faith however that is built on what is described above, will not only not be shaken by obstacles and difficulties, but will indeed find fertile ground to grow itself even in the most disastrous of times.
Going beyond regular doubt and so on [that will be alleviated after one seeks knowledge, clues and signs], when one is past that, one has gained knowledge of the existence of the Gods, and one must therefore fortify the relationship and faith in them, to become stronger in them.
Lastly, a gift the Gods give to mankind when humans go really close to them and try to improve, is that when you will understand life you will start understanding this knowledge at your disposal and how precious it is, you will know you have been given something like an ultra-medicine for many or most of life's difficulties.
Some people might also be fortunate enough to not have to encounter certain difficulties others might. Finding one's self in a situation where you are tried from nowhere, you must seek out to create some challenges that are of a positive manner. You don't need a back problem to go to the gym, you should go if you can anyway.
If you live your existence without anything that challenges you, you must seriously consider if you are actually evolving. Challenges don't have to be unpleasant, but they can be difficult.
Difficult times should be looked upon as trying times where you are simply trying to understand what to do better and how to evolve in order to proceed on a higher state of existence. This mentality can take a while to impart into one's self, and suffering can certainly try to take your attention away from this fact, but it's important for me to remind you of this fact so you don't lose track of the fact that YOU ARE INDEED GROWING.
A large amount of pain ceases itself out of existence when we understand that through our knowledge and our philosophy all situations can be managed successfully and that as long as we conquer our minds, the world will follow. It's there, waiting to be applied, to cure.
The eventuality of mastering these circumstances will be your elevation into a higher being in the end. That's the message of keeping the Faith.
-High Priest Zevios Metathronos